Garnet's Life Adventures

Assembly House Rules

So my "cousin" Danielle called to say she was sick and couldn't come for dinner so Dad and I went 1 block away from my flat to the assembly House - we'd never been inside but pass if every day on our way to the tube station & bus stop. Our plan was to have a drink there just to check the place out before we went to find a place to eat dinner, but Dad liked the look of the menu (not just your typical pub grub), so we stayed for dinner.

Dad & I split the "Maryland Crab Cakes with American Coldslaw" for our starter. For main courses I had a "BBQ Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla" and dad had the "Babyback Pork Ribs with French Fries and American Coldslaw." Also on the menu was "NY Strip Steak," "NY Cheesecake" and "New Orleans Cajun Salmon" - all of which made me laugh seeing as we are in a Pub in London!!

The food was fantastic - the best pub food I've had, but maybe that's because it wasn't deep fat fried fish & chips. During our meal I had noticed an obviously drunk gentleman drinking at the side bar who was in my opinion bothering the female bartender. I explained to Dad that I didn't think I'd last a day as a bartender since I wouldn't be able to keep my cool with annoying drunk guys. As the meal progressed this guy made his way around the bar to the side which was closest to our table. The next time I observed him he was trying to chat up the 3 guys who'd been at the bar since before we arrived. I had noticed them when we walked in because they were all standing in distinct shirts & the one in red was rather good looking.

When we were done eating Dad got up to wash the BBQ sauce off his hands and I started to stare out the huge windows looking at the people walking by in the street. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement next to me - I assumed Dad was returning so I turned back to talk to him, but to my surprise it was the drunk guy. He was eating chips off Dad's plate. He muttered something about wishing he could join me but he had to run so he'd just take a few more chips and be on his way. I was totally caught off guard so I just sort of smiled at him hoping he'd disappear just as fast as he had appeared. While watching him in amazement, I could see over his shoulder the guys at the bar were watching what was going on at my table. After the drunk guy had left, one of the 3 guys who'd been standing at the bar came over to tell me that next time I should tell him to "bugger off". I explained I wasn't about to start a conversation with a drunk guy since I'm not from around here & I didn't know how the drunk guy would react. He explained I was fine because there are police in the bar and the barracks are across the street. During this time Dad came back, Dad worried this guy in a red shirt was harassing me, until we explained he could not to eat any more of the chips because of what had just happened. The red shirted guy offered to buy us a drink and apologised saying "Not all British are that rude, he was just a drunk bloke giving all of us a bad name."

We accepted on the free drinks, but Dad being dad insisted if they bought us drinks they had to sit down & chat with us. So red shirt, green shirt & yellow shirt joined us at the table for our free drinks. After a few minutes they asked what we were doing in London. I explained that I'd just moved here to start my masters degree & we were just checking out all the local pubs to find out which ones where "okay" and which weren't.

A bit later after more chat of where everyone was from red shirt showed us his police badge and smiled saying, I told you you'd be safe drinking here - it's our local. We sat chatting with them for about the next hour. Dad & red shirt chatted a lot about differences in policing between the US & UK, while I talked with green & yellow shirt about Ireland. Green shirt was rather drunk & started to take the menus and make paper airplanes which we proceeded to throw around the pub (there weren't many people near us). Red shirt explained to dad that we really needed to go to the London Dungeon which I think he said is near Tower Bridge, but don't hold me to it. He offered to take us later this week, but dad explained he was leaving first thing tomorrow morning so he'd have to take a rain check on the offer.

At this point I was ruddy tired and had to wake up for class early tomorrow so we left. Well I need to sign off so we can turn the lights off and Dad can get to bed. That is if he can take a break from reading Dry (Augusten Burroughs) - he loves it too!! I have a friend who's been recommending what I like to call my AW reading list. She is a fantastic book recommender!!!

Update (2 days later): Dad must have slipped one of the boys my mobile number because on my way home from uni today I got a call from "Jim", of course I had no clue who Jim was, but after a bit of chatting he explained he'd been one of the guys at the pub earlier in the week. We made plans to meet up this weekend to go to London Dungeon - just hope I recognise him, no clue which one it is!

Update (weekend): "Jim" was the one I kept calling "red shirt" lucky for me also the one I thought was so good looking when we first walked in . . . keep ya posted on how things progress. Oh yeah & the Dungeon is really cool!! (PS Thanks Dad :)

Labels: differences in the UK

posted by Sara @ 11:11 am